Forced labor, child work, low wages: the lives of home-based garment workers in India

While increased attention is (finally) being given to the poor working conditions faced by garment factory workers in countries such as India, Burma and Bangladesh, few people know there are millions of workers making garments in informal, home-based settings too. During times of increased seasonal demand, many factories outsource production to informal businesses. A new study by Siddharth Kara from the University of California, Berkeley, has shed some light onto the lives of 1,452 home-based garment workers in India, one of the world’s largest garment exporters.